I’m just going to get right down to the point.
New Years Resolutions suck!
Want to know why? It’s a 365 day commitment and most of us don’t have that much long term focus, motivation, or memory. Seriously! How many times have you made a year long pledge to yourself and about 2 months in you can’t even remember when you said you were going to do.
I get it.
I LOVE goal setting, but I realized a few years ago that 365 days just wasn’t going to work.
I’m fairly confident a majority of the world agrees with me. I mean, I was at the gym on Jan 1st and at the gym today and I can assure you the attendance was DRASTICALLY different.
You may have chuckled at that. Probably for 1 of two reasons.
- You are THAT person who stayed in bed this morning or picked Netflix over BoFlex
- You never even bothered to make a fitness goal because they never work out for you
Let me emphasize something, BOTH of those are totally ok. Totally normal even!
So where do we go from here? How do we make this better?
One thing I have found that works for me (AND STUDENTS) is shifting the focus to a shorter term plan.
Monthly goals are my jam, my friends!
Here is an example of how I rocked January. This is a page from my personal journal.
During the month of January I set 5 personal goals. They weren’t outlandish. They weren’t lofty. But they also weren’t easy. They would take work. They would stretch my time and talents.
Here is what I accomplished:
630+ Minutes of Cardio Workouts
930+ Minutes of Prayer and Reflection
810+ Minutes of Writing Projects Completed
2,400+ Ounces of Water Consumed
9,920+ Pushups or Situps
I feel great! I feel like I crushed the month! I feel proud of myself.
I don’t say this to toot my own horn. I have never publicly shared results of my goal setting like this, but if this process benefited me, maybe it could benefit you.
Was I 100% perfect everyday? Heck no! Did you see all those pesky little “-“ instead of check marks. That is some (and even me sometimes) would normally use a word like “failure”
But when I look at the big picture, there is no way I could use that word.
I am now more fit, more faithful, a better author, a better athlete, and… very, very hydrated!
Lots of wise people who get paid lots of money to give life advice say that something that is 90% done is a whole lot better than 0% started.
The only way we can fail is when we live our lives so scared that we never even start.
Want to know the coolest part of all of this? I challenged my students to work through this exact same process.
Here are some epic things my kids accomplished in January.
- Improving their art skills by getting better at sketches
- Becoming a better sewer by trying new pattern
- Saving up more allowance money by not spending it all on junk food
- Gradually improving science grades to ace assignments.
Boom! The variety of these goals shows that kids can take this task seriously and totally crush it too! It gives me such giddy smile to think about these young minds plowing through something they set their mind to….
Maybe it’s time to embrace each new month like society hypes up each new year.
I firmly believe we can be better today than we were yesterday. Those small changes add up to make huge differences.
Hey, friend! Go crush it!
PS- Try putting a picture of your goals as the home screen on your phone. It is a CONSTANT reminder throughout your day to crush it!
PSS– I’d LOVE to hear about how you set goals and then go for ‘em! Connect with me on Facebook or Instagram and tell me about the AWESOME you accomplished in January.
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